


Bed Bugs

by obsessivewriter



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fitzsimmons Secret Valentine, Gift for LefthandedEve
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-21 04:45:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6038617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obsessivewriter/pseuds/obsessivewriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An itchy mishap caused by Lance Hunter produces the serendipitous discovery of a collection of never-delivered Doctor Who novelty greeting cards addressed to Fitz from Jemma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lefthandedeve](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=lefthandedeve).



> My gift for LefthandedEve in the FS Secret Valentine Exchange!
> 
> Click on the links to see each of the Doctor Who Greeting Cards that Jemma addressed to Fitz. Credit to the amazing artists, and hell! If you can buy some and support them it would be great ;)

It had all started with an innocuous red spot. A little red dot on your leg or on the back of your neck.

 

Something you could easily miss.

 

It was only when a casual itch became persistent, when it distracted you too much from your work, fixing an engine, or attempting to train hand-on-hand combat or even run a simulation on a supercomputer, and you had to constantly restart said task because your hands were flying to your back or your neck, or, god forbid, your armpit.

 

It was only then, when you stopped caring about what other people thought, someone as a lab technician that you really hadn’t cared about getting to know better or a communication specialist or the Director of freaking SHIELD himself!

 

No, once you started scratching without a care in front of the appalled faces of coworkers and bosses alike, then something else was to blame, and you found yourself stripping in the communal bathroom, trying to look at your own back in the mirror; or yelling at your ex-wife-slash-current-girlfriend; or breaking into your best friend’s room to steal her hair brush and use it to scratch your itchy body, potential scars be damned!

 

Only then, when a number of SHIELD agents discovered not one cute red dot but a constellation of angry red bites and welts that Jemma Simmons found her med bay full of uncomfortable and disgruntled SHIELD operatives demanding her to look at some rash on their bodies.

 

It didn’t take long for Jemma to issue her diagnosis and so, pushing away the large magnifying glass, she took off her latex gloves and addressed the nervous crowd.

 

“It’s a Chitauri virus, isn’t it? We are going to die, right? We are all going to die Bob!” a scream in pure panic and in a very distinct English accent pierced the tense environment, prompting the crowd to direct a stabbing stare at the source.

 

“It’s not a Chitauri virus Hunter,” was Jemma’s curt response.

 

“Then what is it agent Simmons?” asked Coulson.

 

“Bed bugs.”

 

“Bed bugs? Are you sure?” was May’s incredulous look. She was thankful not to be part of the itchy specialists group because she was certain her normal level of stoicism wouldn’t have been possible if she were.

 

“I just want to confirm by locating a live specimen, but I’m quite sure that is a bed bug bite. I have sent Sneezy and Doc to survey the living quarters. If they find a live one they will retrieve it, but even if they don’t a telltale sign is the smell of rotten raspberries. I should have full confirmation in a few minutes, but I’m 99% sure it is your garden variety, very human _Cimex Lectularius_ , more commonly known as a bed bugs.”

 

“But this is a state-of-the-art secret spy facility!” Mack’s normal pitch had gone up a couple of octaves in his distress.

 

“Yes, and I don’t need a PhD to recognize those,” she added pointing to the spots that seemed to crawl from Mack’s hairy chest to his neck.

 

“How can bed bugs make it here?” asked a very itchy Lincoln, to what Daisy added “I thought bed bugs were eradicated.”

 

“Well, they almost were, but in recent years there have been known infestation in populated cities, New York for example. It would only be required for one of us to come in contact with an infested dwelling to carry it back to our base,” Fitz contributed while he jammed a hairbrush down the back of his collar to reach hard to get spots.

 

“Is that my hairbrush?!” asked Simmons in disbelief.

 

“Hmmm, no?”

 

Fitz’s feeble attempt at hiding Jemma’s heirloom hairbrush behind his back annoyed the biochemist into rolling her eyes.

 

“Anyways,” she continued trying to ignore her Gran’s beloved brush used for such disgraceful job; Fitz could be her best friend-slash-something else, but he would have to pay for it. “It only takes one of us having been in contact with an infected dwelling to bring it in the base, and after that it is just a domino effect,” she added.

 

“Hunter you mother-fucker!” shouted Daisy.

 

“Why are you all looking at me?”

 

“You are the one who came back from assignment coincidentally just before this hell broke loose, not to mention the only one with a spotty hygiene record,” Mack accused him.

 

“I resent that!”

 

“Shut it Typhoid Mary!” Fitz yelled.

 

“I was undercover!”

 

“Bobbi, does being undercover means that your husband can sleep around with questionable characters?” Lincoln asked rhetorically.

 

“Ex,” she calmly replied.

 

“ _Et tu_ , Bob? I did not cheat you know!”

 

“Sorry _hon_ , I know you didn’t, but your bolt holes are disgraceful, and I really can’t stand this itchiness.”

 

“Enough! Agent Simmons, what is the action plan?” Coulson interrupted trying to diffuse the situation. He didn’t want to face Fury if his organization’s demise was brought on my bed bugs.

 

“We need to call the exterminators, everything will need a thorough clean and I suggest new mattresses.”

 

* * *

 

“I do not understand why I’m forced to do this if my bunk was infestation free,” was Jemma Simmons’ bitter complain as she rolled the large cart packed with her belongings.

 

“You heard the AC, everyone needs to pack all their belongings in these nifty carts and wheel them to the garage where they can be decontaminated, while the bunks go through a serious cleaning. By the way, how come your bunk was not infested?” asked Daisy

 

“Well, I never came in contact with the source problem.”

 

“I could say the same thing,” Lincoln interrupted the women.

  
“You didn’t Lincoln, but Daisy got it from the couch in the rec room, and then she slept on your bed, and well…”

 

“But Fitz got it from the couch as well,” Lincoln asked pointing at Fitz.

 

“And?” Jemma added raising a perfectly styled eyebrow.

 

“You still cannot seal the deal eh mate?” Hunter stated shaking his head at Fitz.

 

Fitz’s neck sported a crimson hue that he couldn’t attribute entirely to the bed bug bites.

“Oh, don’t get me started Hunter. It’s your fault we all have to do this, and because of that you are going to deal with all this carts and put our stuff back in our bunks,” Jemma accused him pushing her own cart into the mercenary.

 

And with that Hunter found himself alone in the garage with thirty-something carts of belongings freshly decontaminated.

 

“Fuuuck!”

 

“Well, don’t come running to me if something happens to your precious belongings,” Hunter talked to himself as he pushed carts against each other, “Oopsie Daisy!” he uttered as a few boxes fell from a cart. He picked one up peeking at the contents, “I knocked your precious glass figurines… Who do these belong to? Mack? You have got to be kidding me!” he said putting the items back and stacking the box back onto the cart.

 

“Oh, and sweet sweet Daisy with her electronics and what do we have here?” he said turning his attention to his friend’s boxes. “Blimey! If I were Lincoln, I would feel very threatened by that… thing!”

 

 “Agent Hunter!” Coulson’s yell startled Hunter, who shoved Daisy’s… device, towards another pile of boxes, which prompted them to fall off their respective carts.

 

“Ah! Yes, sir”

 

“Quit fooling around and bring those carts to the correct bunks!”  
  
“Yes, sir.”

“And for God’s sake, pick up all of those!”

 

Resigned, Hunter started picking up objects and restarted his monologue.

“So, who do these belong to? Star Wars paraphernalia? Bob, of course. Golf clubs, hmmm ‘Property of Agent Melinda May’, off you go over here. Glass figurines were Mack’s; you are not getting away with this mate! Scary electronics, Daisy, assorted Tardises and Daleks? Jemma, or was it Fitz?” he suddenly picked up a tattered manila envelope and accidentally had the contents fall to the ground.

 

“And where did these come from? Envelop full of greeting cards?” he asked himself as he held a stack of greeting cards stuffed in their respective envelops and held together with a cerulean ribbon.

 

“Shit! Well, I bet no one would mind if I take a _looksee_ to find the owner right? Hmmm…” he said convincing himself. “‘Dear Fitz’, that answers that mystery. Okay you go in this one,” he said placing the stack on Fitz’s cart and wheeling it back to the residential area.

 

* * *

 

 One thing Leopold Fitz had to accept was that the beg bug incident had had one silver lining: his bunk had not been this tidy is years; and not only that, but he had rediscovered a number of objects once thought lost forever, and some he had completely forgotten.

 

Did he really own bagpipes?

 

He sat on his brand new mattress admiring odds and ends when something on his desk caught his eye.

 

Perhaps it was the rich color of the ribbon holding the stack together.

 

“TARDIS blue,” he mumbled to himself as he got up and walked towards his desk to pick up the bundle of cards. He knew Hunter could not be trusted with personal items, and yet they all had done so. The softness of the ribbon felt good against his callused fingers, and he couldn’t stop from pulling it loose. He touched the expensive card stock of the envelopes and noticed that the cards were not sealed shut, but the flap was simply tucked inside.

 

The right side of his moral compass told him he shouldn’t peek inside, but the other side assuaged his guilt convincing him that he wouldn’t know who to return them to if he didn’t look inside.

 

Little did he know that the person whose privacy he was betraying was himself.

 

He pulled the flap out of the one on top and he was greeted by the stylish image of a TARDIS, the sight encouraged him to look inside and he was taken aback by the sight of his name written in the unmistakable penmanship of his best friend.

 

Without planning it, he found himself sitting on the floor with his back against the wall deeply immersed in a one side conversation with Jemma years before.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Greeting Cards

There wasn't rhyme or reason to the cards, some of them were dated while others not, and yet, through Jemma's words, Fitz was transported to the exact moments they were written. 

 

[The TARDIS Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/paperheroes/works/16940542-doctor-who-tardis-giclee-art-print?grid_pos=145&p=greeting-card)

 

_Fitz,_

_I saw this card and I had the impulse to get it for you. I hope you don’t find it too forward, but it’s been great to have you be my friend._

_Jemma_

 

[Union Jack with Tardises Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/edwoodjnr/works/12171233-tardis-jack?grid_pos=61&p=greeting-card)

 

_Fitz,_

_This is the second Doctor Who greeting card that I buy you. Not that you would know that since I never got around to giving it to you. I had a laugh thinking about giving you this card, I know what you’ll tell me “I’m not British Jemma! I’m Scottish!”_

_Jemma_

 

[I Didn’t Choose The Fandom life Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/risarodil/works/17279613-fandom-life?grid_pos=119&p=greeting-card)

 

_Dear Fitz,_

_I think this has turned into a personal joke now, maybe one day I will give you these cards. I loved this one. I love that beyond science we have Doctor Who to obsesses about._

_Jemma_

 

[Run Like The Doctor Told You To Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/logosandpathos/works/10898022-run-like-the-doctor-told-you-to-doctor-who?grid_pos=1106&p=greeting-card)

 

_Dear Fitz,_

_Can you imagine what it would be like to have the Doctor choose us as companions? We’d be brilliant! Sometimes I daydream about that, I know it is silly, but don’t you sometimes imagine a life of adventure?_

_Jemma_

 

[Allons-y Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/tillieke/works/9934528-allons-y?grid_pos=70&p=greeting-card)

 

_Dear Fitz,_

_This is a big one, I’m just going to come out and say it: I think we should go in the field. What do you think?_

_Most hopeful,_

_Jemma_

 

[Wibbly Wobbly Timey Whimey Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/trekvix/works/7964307-talk-whovian-to-me?grid_pos=451&p=greeting-card)

 

_Dear Fitz,_

_I still haven’t gotten the courage to tell you that I think you and I should go in the field, but I have been dropping hints. Why can’t you pick up on them? You are genius!_

_Still hopeful,_

_Jemma_

 

[Every Life Is A Pile Of Good Things And Bad Things Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/darth-sarah/works/10872077-doctor-who-quote-poster?grid_pos=76&p=greeting-card)

 

_Fitz,_

_I’m not going to lie; I’m disappointed that you were not very fond of the idea of going in the field. Of course it would be dangerous, but sometimes I feel like life is too safe in the lab. And Fitz, we could do so much, help so many people with our talents._

_I really got crossed with you, and then I saw this card, and this is what I want you to see, that the good can overpower the negative. Please say yes Fitz, I couldn’t do it without you._

_Jemma_

 

[Be My Companion Card ](http://www.redbubble.com/people/toruandmidori/works/20043992-be-my-companion?grid_pos=84&p=greeting-card)

 

_Dear Fitz,_

_I know you would probably hate this card now that I have convinced you to go in the field. I promise you won’t regret it. This is it Fitz, we’re going in the field, and it’s going to be great!_

_Love,_

_Jemma_

 

[Hello Sweetie Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/saltyblack/works/10403929-dw-hello-sweetie?grid_pos=735&p=greeting-card)

 

Dear Fitz, 

_Our lives are going to be so full of adventures!_

_But shh!!!!_

_Spoilers!_

_Love,_

_Jemma_

 

[I’m Burning Up A Sun Just To Say Goodbye Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/calvingreg09/works/11136345-sun-burning-doctor-who?grid_pos=827&p=greeting-card)

 

_Dearest Fitz,_

_I couldn’t really say goodbye to you, not without telling you the truth of where I’m going and for how long. I hope one day you’ll be able to understand it, and so for now I’ll say goodbye here._

_I’m sorry I couldn’t help you, I’m sorry I only hurt you and stop you from getting better. I’m so sorry I couldn’t swim faster, but most of all I’m so sorry I didn’t have longer to talk to you about what you said._

_I’m leaving because I can’t make you better, and I can’t stand to be around to see how I make you worse._

_I hope that when I’m back we can be friends again, that we can be FitzSimmons again._

_Love,_

_Jemma_

 

[Weeping Angel Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/photoplex/works/7663819-doctor-who-dont-blink-whatever-you-do-dont-blink?grid_pos=278&p=greeting-card)

 

_Dearest Fitz,_

_I miss you._

_Love,_

_Jemma_

 

[Time Can Be Rewritten Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/dean-winchester/works/9832522-doctor-who?grid_pos=840&p=greeting-card)

 

_Dearest Fitz,_

_Today I had hope that we can go back; or maybe not back to what we were but to a new us. It was a gamble but I felt so relieved when I was sure you got what my plan was and you took the toolbox with you. I would have been so heartbroken if our falling out had been real._

_You take care Fitz, and come back._

_Always,_

_Jemma_

 

[Where Do You Want To Start? Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/justinewho/works/10175124-where-do-you-want-to-start?grid_pos=286&p=greeting-card)

 

_Dearest Leo,_

_I can feel so much blooming inside my chest. So many possibilities. I find myself feeling giddy when we work together. The future is vast and scary at times, but you’re with me and that is all I need._

_Love,_

_Jemma_

 

[I Love Your Stupid Face Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/jabberdashery/works/14497868-doctor-who-i-love-your-stupid-face?grid_pos=437&p=greeting-card)

 

_Fitz,_

_The cosmos, really?_

_I chose this card on purpose. I love your stupid face, and your mind, even when it’s filled with stupid ideas like the cosmos keeping us apart._

_You dove in a hole in the universe for me, then why can't we defy the bloody cosmos?_

_Love,_

_Jemma_

 

[The Face Just Sort Of Becomes Them Card](http://www.redbubble.com/people/beckiboos/works/10307805-doctor-who-quote?grid_pos=257&p=greeting-card)

 

_For the love of my life,_

_I’m a hypocrite. How can I get mad at you when I’ve never told you how I feel? It’s high time I’m honest._

_That’s it._

_You are the love of my life._

_You’ve been so careful giving me space to grieve and find myself after that godforsaken place, and Will and everything else._

_But what I need is you._

_I'm sorry it took me this long to figure it out._

_All my love,_

_Jemma_

 

* * *

 

 

Fitz found himself staring at the cards all around him, he hadn't realized he had been crying until a fat tear fell over the ink of the last card making it run. 

 

He was just about to start reading them again when Jemma's cheery voice interrupted his thoughts. 

 

"I'm tempted to take a picture and send it to your mum Fitz, it's unbelievable reall-," she interrupted her words at the sight of Fitz wiping his eyes as he quickly got up. He was standing on a circle of cards that she knew too well. 

 

She tried to find words but they were gone, she looked in the blue of his eyes trying to find an elusive word.

 

“You wrote all of these for me?” He asked breaking the silence.  


“Yes,” was all she could say in a shaky voice.

 

“Why?, I mean, why didn’t you give them to me?”  


“I was embarrassed at first, and then, I don’t know, it turned into something I did with the you in my head. And then, with the one in my heart.”

 

“Were you ever going to give them to me?” Fitz said walking closer to her and reaching for her hand.  


“I always thought I would, but it just got harder. I thought, maybe just the last one.”

 

He looked down to her hand in his and slowly rubbed his thumb on her palm  

 

“What do you think?” Jemma finally said finding her voice.

 

Fitz looked up and reached for his back pocket with this other hand from where he produced a felt tip pen. He took the cap off with his mouth and brought the tip to he smooth surface of her palm and scribbled something on it.

 

“What is it?” Jemma asked confused and read it once he let go. There was an email address there, one that she did not recognized even when it had her name.

 

**jemma@fitzsimmons.org**

 

“An email I made. I wrote to you. Sometimes. You, you can read those. Password is your birthday.”

 

"You wrote to me? When?"

 

"When didn't I? I guess it was like with your cards, things that I was thinking and then things that I couldn't tell you when we weren't in good terms, and then..." 

 

Jemma knew what was coming and she felt her core tightening. 

 

"And then, when you were gone."

 

"For being best friends we really mucked up communicating, didn't we?" Fitz said with a smile.  
  


"For being more than that we were not better," Jemma added getting closer and placing her hand on his cheek. 

 

Fitz thought that this was a good start, and itchiness aside, he'd have to thank Hunter. That was his last conscious thought before leaning in into the first kiss of the rest of his life.

 

 

 


End file.
